That’s right — less than one year after I found myself in the fetal position, crying and swearing that I would never again strip another door, I have somehow managed to strip and refinish the doors in The Boom Boom Room. And that means that today’s rock-and-roll inspiration comes from The Allman Brothers.

The pantry project is done. Which is great, because that means there’s only one project left on the kitchen punch-list. But let’s fast-forward through the stripping process and get right to the doorknob porn.

Yeah. I found sexy doorknobs hidden under multiple layers of paint. Hinges too. Every once in a while, I feel justified in my quest to save old sh*t. This is one of those moments. Here’s a sneak peek to wet your whistle:

Ooooh, baby. Now let’s rush through the foreplay so we can get to the good stuff.Continue Reading

You may have noticed that I haven’t written a blog post in a while. (264 hours, to be exact — but you already knew that, because you’ve been refreshing your browser every hour on the hour, in anticipation of my next heart-poundingly exciting DIY adventure).

It’s also been 32 days since I started the door installation process. And the reason you haven’t seen any signs of life on this blog is that it took me a while to crawl out of the fetal position in which I’d ended up on the kitchen floor, rocking back and forth and mumbling incoherently while I tried to come to grips with the fact that — after 406 days of kitchen remodeling, including tasks as complicated as plumbing and electrical and HVAC and changing the ENTIRE FREAKING STRUCTURE OF THE HOUSE — that in the end, after 32 days (seriously??), I had been defeated by a door installation.

That’s like getting Al Capone on tax evasion.

Or being an all-powerful superhero, and discovering that your fatal flaw is a little green rock.

I have made a decision. I think. You guys gave me lots of advice (a great big wet “thank you” kiss for everyone who shared their two cents here on the blog and on Pinterest!). When it comes to painting the doors, here’s how you guys break down:

Black 46%

White 42%

Other 12%

So I will be painting the doors…white.

Why? Well, because black only beat out white by one vote. But I get a vote, too. Actually, I get 5 votes because it’s my blog. Which means:

Also, paint other stuff white. And for god’s sake, whatever you do, make sure that you take at least a week to finish a project that only takes a couple of hours. If at all possible, force your husband to sit in the kitchen and entertain you while you work.

Long story short: I painted the back door black.

I’ll warn you now, that before-and-after is the best picture in this entire post. Good thing you’re here for the story, not my mad photography skillz.Continue Reading

It’s been a few days since our big push to get the windows in, and we’ve just been wrapping up a few details. On Tuesday, we took out the old back door and patched up its spot with a stylish sheet of plywood. Here’s the before:

All right, I owe you a post about this weekend’s happenings. If you’ve liked my Facebook page, you’ve already seen a couple of pictures of our progress. But now I’ve got the whole story for ya.

Well, half the story. It’s a long one, so I’m dividing it into parts.

Last week, I finally found some windows that will work for our project. I’ve been really chomping at the bit to get the new windows (and door) in, so that we can finish the wiring that goes around them. So as soon as I had the windows, I gave my dad a call and asked if he’d be willing to come up and help us out for a weekend, because he’s Super Dad. And when you’re cutting holes in your house in early March, you want a Super Dad around to help get those holes closed up as fast as possible. And after our plumbing project went so smoothly, I had confidence that we could at least make a dent in our window-and-door project.